Citation

Li H, Bottrell D, Armstrong D. Young 2018; 26(2): 126-144.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Tidskriftforeningen Young, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1103308817711532

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Drawing on social ecological resilience frameworks, this study added adolescents' voices to explore how they achieve academic and behavioural competencies despite being in high-risk environments in a Chinese context. Thirty-one 11th grade resilient students (12 male and 19 female) based on the previous quantitative results were interviewed.

RESULTS showed that the key people in the lives of resilient individuals are located in the micro-system of individuals' ecological social environment (e.g., family and school). They have six important roles: caring and support in everyday life; academic expectations and involvement; spiritual encouragement; behavioural discipline and guidance; providing opportunities for meaningful involvement and role modelling. In addition, having positive life goals, perseverance and confidence were identified as common attributes of the resilient Chinese adolescents. Students' accounts indicate that their resilience is grounded in cultural beliefs.

Keywords Resilience, ecological theory, Chinese adolescents, significant others, social support

Language: en